This invention relates to a liquid shortening system for bakery goods, baked food products exhibiting enhanced moisture attributes, and a method for preparing such baked food products. More particularly, the shortening system is a liquid composition that imparts advantageous moistness to baked food products such as cakes and other chemically leavened bakery goods, which shortening system includes vegetable oil material as the principal component and combines therewith as emulsifiers both propylene glycol monoesters and polycarboxylic acid esters of monoglycerides such as diacetyl tartaric acid esters of monoglycerides.
It has long been an objective to provide bakery formulations and mixes which, when baked, possess what is considered to be a high level of moistness. Bakery products such as cakes and other chemically leavened products can be considered undesirable when they exhibit a crumbly texture and/or a gritty mouth feel. Mixes for cakes and the like have been offered which are directed toward the objective of enhanced moistness. U.S. Pat. No. 4,456,626 describes a shortening system for cakes which is said to make them moist, light and tender. This shortening system requires substantial quantities of an emulsifier consisting essentially of hydrophilic polyglycerol esters (PGE) and propylene glycol monoesters (PGME), the composition specified in that patent including 2 to 7 times as much PGME as PGE, and relatively high levels of PGME are included within that shortening system. These types of shortening systems which include glycerol and/or glycol esters do not provide all of the attributes desired for chemically leavened bakery items such as cakes.
It has now been determined that, by proceeding in accordance with the present invention, it is possible to provide a liquid shortening system that achieves desired improved moistness and improved keeping qualities for products baked from chemically leavened bakery mixes, particularly for cake products. The liquid shortening system includes a substantial amount of vegetable oil composition together with an amount of propylene glycol monoesters and a lesser amount polycarboxylic acid esters of monoglycerides. This combination enhances the moistness of bakery goods made from a typical baking composition including flour, sugars and/or syrups or other sweetening agents, chemical leavening agents such as baking soda, water and other bakery mix ingredients.
It is a general object of the present invention to provide an improved liquid shortening system for inclusion within batters for making chemically leavened bakery goods, to bakery mixes including such liquid shortening systems, and to baked goods prepared therefrom.
Another object of this invention is to provide a liquid shortening system which is added to a bakery mix, which system includes a combination of emulsifier components that impart enhanced moistness and improved keeping quality to baked chemically leavened items incorporating same.
Another object of this invention is to utilize in an improved shortening system a combination of emulsifiers of the propylene glycol monoester variety and of the polycarboxylic acid esters of mono-diglyceride variety.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved liquid shortening system which includes diacetyl tartaric acid esters of monoglycerides.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be clearly understood through a consideration of the following detailed description.